Rath Yatra 2023 [TKB India]

Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra  begin on the second date of Ashadh Shukla Paksha i.e. 20 June 2023 at Puri. According to the Hindu calendar, every year this journey starts from the second date of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh month and continues till Dashami of Ashadh Shukla i.e 28 June 2023. Lord Jagannath sits in this Rath Yatra and is accompanied by brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. The Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath leaves the temple of Puri and goes to the Gundicha temple. Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra all three stay in this Gundicha temple till Dashami of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh month. Then after this they return back to their Puri temple. Devotees from all over the country and the world come to Puri in large numbers to see this chariot and seek the blessings of Lord Jagannath.

Why Rath Yatra is taken out every year?
Every year from the second day of the month of Ashadh to the tenth day, Lord Jagannath goes on a journey with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. In fact, there is a mythological belief behind this chariot, according to which in the Dwapar era, Lord Krishna’s sister Subhadra expressed her desire to see Dwarka. Then Lord Krishna made Subhadra and Balabhadra ji travel to Dwarka by sitting on a chariot to fulfill this wish of his sister. In this way every year the Rath Yatra of Balabhadra and Subhadra is taken out with Lord Jagannath.

Why are incomplete idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra worshipped?
Even today the incomplete idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are worshiped in the Jagannath Temple of Puri. There is a legend behind this unfinished idol of the Lord. Actually a king used to rule in Puri, whose name was Indradyumna. One day Lord Jagannath appeared in his dream and told him about the wood floating in the sea and ordered him to make an idol out of these wood. Then the king, obeying the Lord’s command, asked the carpenter to make an idol by collecting the wood flowing from the sea. In the form of a carpenter, Lord Vishwakarma placed a condition in front of King Indradyumna that he would close the doors and make idols and no one would enter inside until the idols were made. If the door opens first, they will stop making the idol. To know whether the work of idol making was going on inside the closed door or not, the king used to stand outside the door and listen to the sound of the idol being made. One day the king did not hear any sound from inside, he thought that Lord Vishwakarma had left the work. The king opened the door and Vishwakarma disappeared from there as per the condition. The idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra remained incomplete. From that day till today the idols are sitting there in the same form.

World’s largest kitchen
Prasad is made for lakhs of people daily in the Jagannath temple of Puri. There prasad is distributed to 1 lakh people every day. Every day 6 times bhog is offered to Lord Jagannath which consists of 56 types of dishes. The kitchen built in Puri Jagannath Temple is considered to be the largest kitchen in the world. In this, around 500 cooks and around 300 helpers prepare the God’s offerings. The Prasad of Lord Jagannath is called Mahaprasad. For cooking this prasad, seven earthen pots are placed one above the other and the process of cooking the prasad starts from the topmost pot. Prasad is cooked in earthen pots only on the stove, the prasad of the lowest pot is cooked at the end. The surprising thing is that the prasad in the temple never falls short and as soon as the doors of the temple are closed, the prasad also ends.

Some wonders of Puri Jagannath Temple startle everyone…

•  No birds fly over the temple
  One surprising thing about Puri’s Jagannath Temple is that no bird is ever seen flying over this temple. Apart from this, no airplane passes over it.
• The shadow of the dome of the temple does not fall
  The upper part of the temple of Lord Jagannath i.e. the dome challenges this rule of science, because its shadow is not visible at any time of the day.
•  Reverse wind flows here
  The flow of wind in the sea areas is from the sea towards the land during the day, while its direction changes in the evening. The air starts flowing from the land to the sea, but here is a miracle that the air flows from the land to the sea during the day and from the sea to the land in the evening.
• The sound of sea waves is not heard inside the temple
  On entering the Jagannath temple from the lion gate, you cannot hear the sound of sea waves, but as soon as you come out of the temple, you can hear the sound of the waves.